Climate change and its impacts : A brief experience of Tamenglong District
- Part 2 -

G Hiamguanglung *

Nungba in Tamenglong District - :: Pix - Gaikhamdim Marangmei

Water Scarcity:

Water scarcity is already a major problem for the world's poor. The number of people impacted by water scarcity is projected to increase from about 1.7 billion people today to around 5 billion people by 2025, independent of climate change (IPCC 2001b). Climate change is projected to further reduce water availability in many water scarce regions. Water is the primary medium through which climate change influences the Earth's ecosystems and therefore people's livelihoods and wellbeing.

Besides climatic change, current demographic trends, economic development and related land use changes have direct impact on increasing demand for freshwater resources. Freshwater systems are part of larger ecosystems which sustain life and all social and economic processes. The provision of freshwater is therefore an ecosystem service which, when disrupted, threatens both the health of ecological systems and human wellbeing, which are in complex interaction. Taken together, the net effect of these supply and demand changes is affecting the vulnerability of water resources.

One of the serious problems facing in and around Tamenglong District headquater is scarcity of water during winter season. Water resource is being scarcer day by day at an alarming rate. Tamenglong district is experiencing a more severe water stress and overheating. Rainfall is expected to become less frequent but heavier, and summers become hotter. Water scarcity also increased the amount of time and energy spent fetching water, typically a task done by women and older children. They now have to travel further to find water sources which used to be located closer in the past, and this is causing increased hardship.

In district headquater during winter season acute shortage of drinking water was experience for the past 2 decade. Due to the high slope of hill, well and tank are non-viable and their only source of water are pipe water supply by the PHED. Women and children are waiting in long queue for 1-2 hours to get a bucket of water. Some wealthy households bought water from private water tanker costing Rs 500 – 700 per 1000 litre which is much higher than in the valley.

The inadequacy of water resources with rivers running dry most of the times, as opposed to earlier times when minimal flow was reported, is affecting the lives of the people here as water resources are increasingly becoming scarce. The various streams and rivulets that crisscross the terrain were once adequate sustenance throughout the year for the region, but now they runs dry for most part of the year.

They are more reliant on local natural resources and would therefore suffer most from the drying up of local water resources or changes in vegetation cover. They are vulnerable to extreme weather events; have poor access to information and lack resources to cope with and recover from weather-related disasters. Their vulnerability is further compounded by geographic isolation poorly served by roads and other infrastructure.

Observations on adaptation of Climate Change;

o Local initiatives and adaptations adopted in terms of mix of crops planted;

Mix crops system are maintained either in cash crop land or in jhum paddy land, which have more remunerative and commercial value, many of the neighbouring villages started abandoned jhum paddy and started cash cropping in village forest.

o Adoption of soil/water conservation practices;

Encouragement of plantations and renovation of old ponds and springs are made by the village Traditional council and village Authority council. Cutting of trees and any types of cultivation were restricted on the forest where water was extracted. These restrictions are mostly put on those forests that lie above the village site.

o Other measures taken to intensify or diversify agricultural production;

Intensification and diversification of farm activities were occurred for those crops which have high value crops in local markets. For example growing of cash crops such as oranges, banana, tree beans, etc are done in farmland which have a sort of private ownership since such land will belong to the individual as long as the economic activities last. Cash crops such as chillies, yam, maize, beans are also grown in cash crop land. Plantation of trees is also done in the village forest. The integration of trees on farms offers synergies between adaptation, mitigation, and production benefits.

Kitchen garden/vegetable gardening is one of the important practices but is in threat of scarcity of water. Used of HYVs have also been started either in fruits and non-fruits crops, but need to be scaled up for real impact.

o Non- farm activities;

In addition to farm-level responses, farmers are seeking off-farm opportunities to support their families. Wage-based work was more prevalent among low-income groups, who depend more on off-farm work than agriculture. With the declining productivity of jhum, most of the households started depend on non-farm activities such as carpentry, mason, weaving, manual labour, grocery shops, shop keeper, etc.

o Animal Husbandry;

Poultry, Duckery, Piggery, Cattles, Bullocks, Dog, etc are some of the important livestocks. Piggery becomes the most earning livestock. Feeding was mainly shifted from forests to stall. Rearing of improved breeding is slowly emerging in poultry and Piggery.

Some common constraints to enable adaptation.

Vulnerable people have a strong self-interest in adapting. But numerous obstacles impede adaptation, constraining what people can and are observed to do. Common impediments include competing priorities; poverty; lack of awareness, information and knowledge; uncertainty; weak institutions; degraded natural resources; eroded social capital; inadequate infrastructure; insufficient financial resources; distorted incentives; and poor governance.

Interventions are needed to create conditions that enable people to surmount the obstacles and take actions to help themselves. Indeed, enabling the process of adaptation is the most important adaptation that the public sector can make. Without fundamental improvements in the policies and institutions that finance, maintain, and invest in the water and agriculture sectors, additional resources aimed at building resilience are not likely to be effective in the long run. Adaptation must go hand-in-hand with development.

Conclusion:

Local communities depend on forests as a source of fuel, food, medicines and shelter jeopardises poverty alleviation due to the loss of forests. Indigenous and forest-dependent peoples are stewards of their forests, providing the rest of humanity with vital ecosystem services. Climate change hit the poorest hardest and so reducing deforestation will help build their resilience to climate impacts. Tamenglong people are highly vulnerable to climatic changes as they are prone to lose their livelihoods options and become more directly exposed to uncertain climatic factors affecting their water, agriculture and forest based livelihoods.

Their limited access to knowledge about climate change, induced stresses and low resilience power to adapt to these stresses are all barriers requiring urgent action. The impacts, even though vary, are usually expected to undermine further the welfare position of poorer farmers and net buyers of food both in rural and urban areas. Local communities who have experienced the consequences of climate change are unaware of the causes and of the likely future impacts on them. People are trying to cope with the changes as an additional burden on top of their other multiple problems.

Adaptation-enhancing practices will be the most important policy option in smoothing the food security and poverty impacts of climate change of affected households including farmers. Such options include both practices that have to promote a more efficient use of available resources and inputs (i.e. climate-smart agriculture practices) along with the promotion of developmental objectives (e.g. universal basic education). A detailed assessment of the local people and its socioeconomic scenario will promote adaptation strategy and mitigation, since local people are the live witness to climate change information and valuable sources.

Concluded....